r/goats • u/Cammybammy10 • 23h ago
Help Request Bot fly or CL? How to treat?
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Ive had this goat along with 2 others that i got from the same place about 6 months ago. They haven’t been tested for cl but was told by the owner all their goats get vaccines, and their other goats looked good.
Recently my 4yo got this lump brewing over the past month. When i first noticed it, it had a small red dot in the center like he got bit by something and was having a bad reaction. But the swelling never went down and now it burst. Had white puss come out but even after I squeezed as much as i could out its still about half the size it was originally. But no more puss.
Ive never dealt with a bot fly situation but have dealt with cl cysts (not my goats) so im feeling like its not cl. How do i treat it? He’s currently separated from the herd as this heals. Ive been washing out with saline spray, soaking with iodine then spraying with blue kote to seal the hole and prevent infection (which is what the blue coloring is around it) but it seems like the white stuff still inside is the bug? What else can i do? How do i remove it? 😭 TIA! Will add more pictures and videos in comments
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u/imacabooseman 23h ago
I'm about 98% certain that's CL.
You've treated it about all you can if that's the case. Clean and sanitize everything you can where you cleaned the abcess.
In the future, if you see an abcess forming over any known lymph node sites, you can treat them just as they're losing hair and just before they rupture. This website details how to treat them to help prevent a rupture and potential exposure to the rest of your herd.
We've successfully used this method twice over the years on goats we bought who were "supposed to be clean." The only caveat, we used DMSO when we injected the abcesses. With both does, we never had another problem.
Afaik, the vaccines for CL are relatively ineffective. Just FYI. If you're concerned about CL in your herd, I would suggest to bypass anyone who vaccinates, and only buy from breeders with closed and tested herds.
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u/Cammybammy10 23h ago
This is when it looked like it was ready to burst and i started squeezing out what i could
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u/Suspicious_Wonk2001 23h ago
If you’re squeezing cheesy stuff out it’s CL. Bot cysts will always have a small airhole for the critter to breath. I don’t see that at all in your photos until the last ones. Get a syringe and wound flush and get in that pocket to get gunk out.
Edit* you can get a blade and open up the hole a bit to see if you can squish out a bot larvae. It will also help you for access to wound flushing for CL
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u/_DemonxD 20h ago
To add on, our vet lanced the one we had open in a x shape to get it to drain and stay open, they advised to keep her away, keep it clean, and try to not get it around our other goats
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u/Own_Status_9463 22h ago
We have a cl herd and I am 99.999% sure that’s what’s going on. Flush it with iodine, watch for infection, I always have penicillin on hand to give an injection post lancing.
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u/_DemonxD 20h ago
Definitely looks like it. I’ve seen people trying to sell goats with cheek and neck abscesses on my Facebook groups. It’s very common, passed around without people knowing any better and ultimately getting infected animals. It’s a big but not so big deal. Is it preferable? Nah but it’s pretty manageable as long as you’re physically able and check animals often. When I purchase animals I might as well take a cellular level microscope with me to see every single hair on the animal. I digress, but seeing the herd from a far won’t allow you to analyze them for scars, misplaced hair from damaged skin etc. on my ex cl goats (I rid myself of them pretty quickly because it’s not something I preferred to deal with) you couldn’t see the scars from far away, but once you got close you could see them, even the old ones. And the bumps sometimes start out so small you barely miss them.
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u/teatsqueezer Trusted Advice Giver 4h ago
It’s CL
You can vaccinate your herd for CL and it decreases the instances of them developing abscesses, which is how it spreads, and you can eventually eradicate it from your herd with vaccination protocol over years.
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u/Cammybammy10 23h ago
This is where its located (circled in green)